Hi again, James!  This is a continuation of my previous message:

JB>  When a person finds it is unnatural to sink in water,
JB>  options open *way* up.


          I'm okay in salt water.  As for fresh water, I'm not sure yet.  :-))



AH>  I still haven't been in a sailboat or a canoe, and I
AH>  keep thinking I must be nuts to take up kayaking at
AH>  my age.  However, we enjoy doing it together & Nora finds
AH>  it more fun than the alternatives she's tried....  :-)

JB>  Nora's my kind.  Any kid that can drag her parents
JB>  out on a lake, has all my respect in the world.


          Well, that's a two-way street.  We had to be willing to try it
& the opportunity never arose earlier.  But Nora is certainly a force
to be reckoned with.  I've often been known to say "Look out, World...
here comes Nora!"  ;-)

          Another factor is the people we've met through such activities. 
The warmth & acceptance we found in the community of disabled kayakers
& suchlike, and among the able-bodied volunteers, struck me as a great
antidote to some of the problems we've encountered elsewhere.  Nora has had
a chance to meet other young adults with hemiplegia... i.e. something
relatively rare & unknown among the population at large... and Dallas
& I have found people who appreciate the insights we can bring to
situations regarding a variety of disabilities.  They don't compete with
one another & everybody does what they can to help.  It's a far cry
from what Dallas & I experienced during our school days, when we would
be the last picked for the team in PE class & certain sports were
reserved for the rich.  We may be late bloomers, PE-wise, but nobody seems
to mind....  :-)



JB>  Dad's cat spent the most of the afternoon here. He found
JB>  two new hiding places, can halt a Unix process, tab around
JB>  the OLMR a few times... For an old pain in the butt, he sure
JB>  can be a lot of laughs.


          Yes, that's a cat for you!  We've had a couple of them too....  :-))



JB>  I once saw a dissertation about "She's Leaving" by a
JB>  scholar, and he concluded by, "Who would have logically
JB>  tried that? Not me." Very crafty boys, the lot of them.


          Uh-huh.  One of the things I like about their music is that they
did stuff nobody else had thought of... and/or was willing to risk... at
the time. The idea of "leaving home after living alone" is one
which a lot of people can relate to, for example, but it was very different
from what other writers were doing.  I enjoy what they did with "Penny
Lane" & "Eleanor Rigby" too....  :-)



JB>  "Life is what happens..." Lennon, J. 


          While you're busy with other stuff??  ;-)



JB>  He now knows that he can survive what was otherwise
JB>  considered a disaster.

AH>  Yes, yes, yes!!  That's very important....  :-)

JB>  It's all right there in the instructor's' manual. <-;


          Something else happened which wasn't a textbook drill but relates to
what you said above.  To make a long story short the wind came up last time we
went out on Alice Lake.  I managed to avoid the reeds on one side & the wooden
float on the other side of the area set aside for swimming, but try as I might
I was unable to avoid drifting toward the beach... so I decided to go with the
flow.  The beach was only about 200 yards from the place we'd started out from
& nobody was out swimming anyway.  I was safe & sound, as was the
kayak... and
although it wasn't quite what I'd had in mind it was okay.  Another lesson.  I
think Nora learned a good lesson on this trip too.  She got stuck in the reeds
at one point.  Dallas & I both refused to tow her out.  And as we'd suspected,
she could solve the problem herself with a bit of verbal instruction....  :-))




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+